Late goal lifts Greenville over Tormenta

Watching Tormenta/Greenville on the big screen at Tormenta Stadium

Hi friends. Sorry for the brief absence following the Charleston game. Sometimes you just need a break, you know. And with my wife out of town and my kids having end of the school year stuff, this took a back seat to other things. You all seem to have gotten along well enough with out me for a few days and are none the worse for wear. So lets get to it, shall we.

Saturday night's Greenville game marked the third straight road game for Tormenta in eight days, all against some of the best teams USL has to offer. After falling to Omaha 4-2 the previous Saturday in League One play and then losing in heartbreaking fashion to Charleston on Wednesday in the US Open Cup, it was on to Greenville for the Jägermeister Cup against a Triumph team that defeated Tormenta 3-0 just a few weeks ago.

As you likely know by know, Greenville, scored two second half goals to come back and claim the 3-2 win, capping off a week where, honestly, Tormenta played really well in stretches in all three games, but weren't able to come away with any results. That is frustrating. That's nothing to take away from Greenville. Two of their goals were just moments of brilliance and the third was a penalty kick that was... let's say favorable to the home side by the referee. 

A quick recap... Greenville jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 16th minute on a tremendous goal from Lyam Mackinnon on a strike from just inside the penalty box on the left. His curling shot found the side netting on the far right side of the goal past a diving Ford Parker. Mackinnon had two goals in Greenville's first matchup with Tormenta. To me, it looked like Joshua Ramos had him pretty well defended, but as an old high school football coach told me after they'd lost a game, "the other team practices too."

Tormenta would respond, however. Mason Tunbridge's goal in the 33rd minute would tie the score at one. Tunbridge would intercept a pass about 23 yards out and unleash a laser of a shot through everyone into the back of the net to tie things up. Just an absolute blast from Tunbridge.

Seven minutes later, Tormenta would take the lead on Jackson Khoury's goal off an assist from Ajmeer Spengler to put Tormenta ahead 2-1.

Greenville responded in the second half, slowing down the Tormenta attack and in the 68th minute following a foul called on Ramos in the penalty area. Jamie Smith would bury the kick in the lower right of the goal to tie the score at two.

It looked as though the Triumph would take the lead in the 85th minute, but Ben Zakowski's header was parried away by Parker and cleared up to up near midfield. That's where Smith would chest the ball forward and fire off a blast from 37 yards out that the ESPN camera operator couldn't even track that found the back of the net for the eventual game winner. Just an absolute strike. Sometimes you just have to tip your cap and this is one of those goals (To be fair, so was the Mackinnon goal.)

It was certainly a rough week for Tormenta. In League One regular season standings, Tormenta is currently in 7th place with seven points and a (-2) goal differential. Their loss to Charleston knocked them out of the US Open Cup (Omaha and Charlotte from USL1 also lost, eliminating the final three teams from the league) and in Jägermeister Cup play, Tormenta is currently at the bottom of the four team group with 1 point. 

After a busy stretch, Tormenta returns home for a two game homestand with Chattanooga coming to town on Saturday for a regular season matchup and then the following Saturday, Richmond makes its first visit to Statesboro for a Jägermeister Cup match. (After that, Tormenta is on the road a lot, with only one home game in June and one in July.)